


Protective

by forever_bright



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, Nightwing (Comics), Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Batfamily as bodyguards, Bodyguard Dick Grayson, Hurt Dick Grayson, Implied Dick Grayson/Jason Todd, M/M, Minor Violence, Mutual Pining, Rockstar AU, Rockstar Wally West, no powers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-22
Updated: 2019-01-22
Packaged: 2019-10-14 12:48:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17508935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/forever_bright/pseuds/forever_bright
Summary: Rockstar AU. Dick Grayson runs famous rockstar Wally West's security team.Dick does something stupid. Wally is justifiably concerned.





	Protective

The screaming of the fans could be heard through the thick walls of concrete that separated the crowds from Wally’s dressing room. The sound was a near constant companion to tour days, and Dick mentally wrote it off as not worth consideration. If any of those screams changes in pitch - became high, scared, confused - he’d start listening again. He touched his earpiece briefly as the outside security station - Tim, in this case - gave his hourly security update. The hand movement was a habit that he’d found hard to break even after a few years in the security game. In the army, they’d used handheld radios. 

“Roger roger,” joked Wally, sticking his head out of the door. He thought he was funny, but Dick didn’t give him anything. If he happened to personally think Wally’s brand of idiotic humour was equally adorable and awful, that was a thought for his own private time.

“We okay to head out?” Wally continued. His hair was wet from the shower and Dick knew most people would be asking their assistant these sorts of questions, but Wally always liked to come to Dick directly. Dick tried not to think too much about why that was. 

“Yeah, whenever you’re ready we’ll head back to the hotel,” confirmed Dick.

Wally nodded and disappeared off inside. Dick shifted his weight a little and settled in the wait for him to reappear. His stomach wasn’t sitting right today, it was telling him something was wrong, but unfortunately he couldn’t trust the gut feeling the way that seasoned professionals in films always did - his body always seemed to think that something was about to go wrong. The words ‘complex trauma’ came to mind, but he shoved that back down into the pile of thoughts that only surfaced at 3am when he couldn’t sleep.

It had been a long tour. They were two shows away from the end of eight months on the road, and somehow Wally was still smiling even though everyone else involved was a walking zombie-shaped person. Dick was managing okay - he always managed okay - but the chunks of sleepless hours and the feelings of impending doom were growing bigger with every passing week they spent on the road.

He was looking forward to a break, but he also didn’t like the idea of saying goodbye to Wally. There would be a lot less smiles in his day without listening to the rockstar’s silly interviews and joking interactions with fans. The nights would feel a lot longer without the chats over electrolyte drinks and NBA games.

“Let’s roll,” said Wally, coming through the door with a couple of his additional staff people. Dick knew them well, but everyone was too tired by this point for needless socialisation. He took the lead and the group began to walk down the cavernous hallways of the arena backstage. 

Once they reached the back stage door that Wally would walk through to his SUV - and he couldn’t just take a car out like a normal person, he wanted to greet the fans that had been waiting around in the cold for nearly two hours - there were three others members of Dick’s team waiting. Because the risks were so complex in a crowd setting, Dick always preferred to hand over Wally’s bodily protection to Jason and instead focus on the broader threats. He trusted Jason with his life, and more importantly with Wally’s.

The crowd was mostly teenagers and young woman, and Wally laughed and smiled and took selfies while Dick’s eyes scanned the mass of people.

He saw the knife and was moving before he could even think, before the words - ‘Weapon, weapon, get him out of here’ - were spilling from his lips. He charged towards the guy in the hoodie and tackled him to the ground without a second thought. As their two bodies hit the asphalt, Dick tried to take a breath and thought he must have winded himself for a second, before the pain hit and he saw the box cutter sticking into his ribs. Tim was next to him in a second and held the man down, allowing Dick to roll to the side. He couldn’t take a breath, every time he tried there was agony in his chest.

‘Fuck,’ he breathed in pain, frustration, feeling the black beginning to creep across his brain. He was unconscious in seconds.

—

Wally was talking to a girl about her favourite song that she listened to over and over after her father left, when Jason wrapped a strong arm around his chest and wrenched Wally away from her and her mother. He was making an indignant sound before his brain caught up, and he noticed Tim leaving his side while Jason pressed in close. He was being dragged to the car, Jason’s large frame curled around him, and Wally’s arm was twisted painfully in his grip.

Within seconds he was in the back seat of the SUV, and they were driving away. There was four of them in the car, with Damien behind the wheel and Roy in the front, and Wally swung around to try and see what was happened out the back window. Jason shoved his head down unceremoniously.

‘Was it a gun?” Wally asked, against finding himself crushed at an uncomfortable angle, but now adrenaline was thrumming through him and it made it easy to ignore. “Is everyone okay?”

There had been a lot of kids there. Nobody answered him, as Jason was confirming that they’d cleared Wally from the scene and Roy was on the phone to the police. Wally’s heart was racing and it had barely been a minute since they left, but the wait for answers felt too long already.

“Cops are on their way,” reported Jason, his voice even rougher in the heat of the moment. He removed his hand from the middle of Wally’s back and let him straighten up.

“We’re going to the standby hotel,” instructed Roy, relaxing the tiniest fraction. “They got him, but you never know.”

There was nearly a minute of silence, as they all processed what had just happened. There had never been an incident like this before, not a real threat. The worst that Wally’s security had had to deal with in the past was fans trying to kiss him or pull him into the crowd. There had never been any violence.

“Are the fans okay?” asked Wally again, because he couldn’t bare the thought of someone hurting those people who had just wanted a simple glimpse of him. He could have just taken a car from the internal loading bay.

“Fans are all fine,” replied Jason and Wally’s insides melted with relief. “Just one guy with a knife. He’s down.”

“Fuck,” breathed Wally. He rubbed a hand over his face, and his nose and lips were cold. “But the cops have him?”

“Yeah, Tim’s got him for when they arrive,” confirmed Jason. There was something Wally could hear now, as the blood drained from his ears and his brain began to function again. There was a tension in the air, a shortness to everyone's words. Damien’s fingers were white on the steering wheel.

“Where’s Dick? Is he meeting us there?” asked Wally. They hadn’t said his name yet. Usually these boys couldn’t go two minutes without mentioning him.

“He took the guy down,” said Jason and the words hung, Wally waited, what weren’t they saying- 

“He got hit with the knife,” finished Roy, when it was clear that Wally wasn’t going to let them off. “Ambulance is on the way.”

Wally swallowed hard. He felt the spike of horror and adrenaline wash over him, distancing him briefly. Then his stomach twisted and he felt sick, slamming him back into the moment.

“Is he okay?” asked Wally, more quietly than he meant to.

“He’s tough,” replied Roy. It didn’t answer Wally’s question. There was silence again.

Wally tried to keep his thoughts rational. He’d been taught how to deal with big moments, with crazy situations. He knew the chemicals that were racing through his body and he knew that there was no point obsessing over things he couldn’t control. Except, he couldn’t stop himself. 

Dick had tied Wally up in knots for the whole tour. They’d only met a few weeks before it started, as Wally’s management had insisted that he upgrade to a bigger, more serious security team. Dick’s boys had all served in the army together and they were tough, but their loyalty to Dick was what had peaked Wally’s interest at the start. It wasn’t hard to understand, with Dick being equal parts cool and confident and charming. He seemed to always be three steps ahead… and he had those fucking bright eyes that felt like they saw right through Wally.

Everything about Dick Grayson hooked Wally in and he kept waiting for it to pass, to wash away like all his serious attractions had in the past, but instead it stuck. It grew and expanded and Wally could admit - only to himself, inside the safety of his brain - that he was in love with the guy.

He had no idea what Dick felt in return. He seemed to… feel something, but it hidden under endless layers of professionalism that made Wally unsure what ground they stood on.

Once they reached the hotel, there we more people waiting to take care of Wally. Damien and Roy stayed behind to talk to the cops, while Jason went with him up to the hotel room. It felt silent and strange, and Wally felt a jarring disconnect from the scene they had just left. Dick couldn’t be hurt, not while he was standing in this plush hotel suite with complementary bottles of pre-mixed dry martini on the table.

“Any news?” Wally asked Jason. Jason was always joking and smirking, and Wally didn’t like the grave look on his face. Usually Jason would have brazenly slung himself down onto Wally’s bed by now and made a joke about spoilt little musical stars.

“Just that he took a hit when he tackled the guy and the docs were looking after him.”

“He was right next to me,” frowned Wally. He ran a hand through his hair - it was still damp. He didn’t know what he was meant to do. “Do you think the guy wanted to hurt me?”

“Who knows,” shrugged Jason. He put a hand to his ear and Wally waited, not knowing how to stand or if he should be doing something. His phone probably had a hundred messages already from friends and family checking in on him, and as Jason listened to his earpiece, Wally’s media advisor M'gann came through the hotel door.

“Are you okay?” she said, sympathetic. “Thank God nobody was hurt.”

Wally wondered if she knew that Dick is apparently stabbed. He supposed that was a security guard’s job and she meant civilian casualties. He tried not to feel sicker at the thought that Dick getting hurt was _okay_.

“What’s up? I guess the press is all over it.”

And with that, it was back to business. The wheels of PR began to turn and Wally had to make some calls. Hours later, as he was being interviewed by online pop culture website - he couldn’t remember the name, he was saying the same words, like grateful and blessed - when a question cut through his performance.

“What about your security guard, Wally? Have you had any update on his condition - I understand he was stabbed with a box cutter in his chest, is he going be okay?”

The image of Dick lying with a knife in his chest while Wally speed off in an SUV hit him suddenly. He had no idea if Dick was okay.

He managed to fluff his way out of the question - he was so well-trained at that - and he could only assume if Dick was really badly hurt, someone would have told him. But then, when he thought about more, maybe they wouldn’t. People were always trying to keep him in a good mood, in a stable place, and saying that Dick nearly died trying to protect him was definitely going to throw Wally off balance.

“I want to see him,” said Wally as soon as the call was over. “Is he in the hospital? I’m going now.”

—

Dick woke up slowly. He didn’t know where he was for a long time, and the gentle return to consciousness due to the anaesthetic he was all too familiar with. The smell of the chemically clean sheets and air dawned on Dick slowly, and he knew he was in a hospital before he forced his eyes to open. He curled his fingers around the hand already in his.

“Hey big bro,” came Jason’s rough voice. He squeezed Dick’s fingers. “Take it slow, you complete idiot.”

“You’re a shit visitor,” Dick managed to mumble after a few seconds of trying to move his mouth.

“I’m not the one who ran into a crazy man with a knife,” replied Jason, and Dick knew he was going to get a more serious talking to once he was back on his feet. He always did when he did something stupid. 

“What’s the damage?” he asked, and as though summoned by his words, a nurse came through the door. The damage turned out to be not too bad, but it also could have very easily killed him. Dick listened to how the knife had punctured his lung but missed everything else, and how they’d managed to stitch him up and he seems to have reacted well to the surgery. Dick gave her a smile as she tried to sound reassuring. She wasn’t know know this was a very minor injury in his catalogue of hospital visits.

Jason gave him a run down of the situation and the fact that nobody else was hurt. He had let go of Dick’s hand when the nurse came in.

“You need to rest up,” he finished, leaning back in his chair.

“You going kiss it better?” replied Dick with a teasing little smile, because this was all feeling a bit gruesome and serious for his liking. He’d be okay. Wally was okay. Jason didn’t sound right when he wasn't talking shit.

“In your dreams,” replied Jason, but there was a heat in his gaze that promised to take Dick up on the offer. They were interrupted by another visitor and both of them sat up a little straighter when Wally stuck his he'd into the room.

“Is Roy with you? You didn’t sneak off, did you?” was the first thing Dick said, and Wally rolled his eyes at him. Jason chuckled and then stood up, freeing up a seat for Wally.

“You’re off duty,” replied Wally and he sat down in the chair slowly, running his eyes over Dick’s body. Dick noticed for the first time that there were bloodstains on his hands and fingernails, presumably his own blood. He had no idea what his face looked like, but judging by Wally’s frown, not great. 

“You really shouldn’t sneak away, especially after what happened today,” said Dick, trying to break the silence. 

“Shut up, you got stabbed, I wanted to see you.”

“Thanks. For coming.”

This unspoken thing between hung heavy in the air. Dick had been careful not to push his luck with Wally, because while they seemed to have a constant spark of sexual and personal chemistry, he also didn’t have any external evidence that Wally could, or would, be interested. It was a situation with too many unknowns, let alone the fact that Wally was his boss. Dick didn’t like the idea of complications like that in his job, and he would have transferred away from Wally months ago if it wasn’t for the fact that he couldn’t really bear to be away from him.

“So what happened?” asked Wally, leaning back in his chair, his tone a bit more normal. Dick could hear some noises in the hallway that made him think that news of Wally’s presence had moved quickly and people were trying to suss out a look at the superstar. He hoped someone closed the door.

“Saw the guy with the knife, went out to take him down and landed at an odd angle. It was just bad luck,” shrugged Dick. Wally levelled him with an unimpressed gaze - one that suggested that while that may be true, Dick hadn’t exactly needed to tackle the guy, he could have been more careful and briefly thought about his own safety. If Wally verbalised any of those concerns, Dick was more than willing to say that he really didn’t think his safety was the point of being a security guard. 

“You got anyone flying in to look after you?” questioned Wally. It was a loaded question. Dick raised his eyebrows a fraction to acknowledge the new territory that Wally was heading into.

“No,” he replied. “The team is here already and my father doesn’t have time for minor details.”

Wally knew Dick’s father was a Big Deal back in Gotham. He was smart enough never to bring it up.

“No girlfriend?” pressed Wally. They’d never had this conversation before, rather they’d skated the edges and chosen to flirt and tease, not wanting to risk any reality encroaching on their tour dream-world.

Dick considered the question. There was only one answer, but he wanted to let the implications of it roll over in his mind.

“I think you know that’s not really my area,” he said. Wally’s eyes sparked, and his lips curved up. Dick felt something soft and sentimental flash through him. He didn’t stand a chance.


End file.
